“Lie’er?! You’re here!!”

Yun Xuanzi and his men might not have recognized the figure, but Li Susu knew him instantly. A mother recognizes her son, even by a mere silhouette.

The figure descending from the sky was indeed Han Lie. To the despairing Li Susu, his arrival was like a ray of dawn breaking through an endless night, igniting a spark of hope in the suffocating darkness.

Silence. A deathly silence descended upon the ruined hall.

The gazes of Yun Xuanzi and his entourage locked onto the newcomer. Han Lie wore a simple white Daoist robe, his hands clasped casually behind his back. His eyes were pitch-black, deep as the void of space, carrying a cold, focused murderous intent.

Instinctively, Yun Xuanzi’s minions took a step back.

They felt it. A suffocating aura of death radiating from this man, heavy enough to crush the breath from their lungs.

“You are Han Lie? From the Heavenly Void Sect?”

Yun Xuanzi raised an eyebrow, realization dawning. He didn’t know Han Lie personally, but the Sun Moon Sect’s briefing and Li Susu’s reaction painted a clear picture.

Han Lie glanced briefly at his father, Han Zhentian, who lay broken on the floor. A flicker of cold rage passed through his eyes before he turned his gaze to the invader.

“You know me,” Han Lie said, his voice terrifyingly calm. “The Sun Moon Sect warned you, didn’t they?”

He took a slow step forward. “It matters not. You are already a dead man.”

“Hmph, arrogant!” Yun Xuanzi hefted his battle axe, sneering as he assessed Han Lie’s cultivation. “A mere late-stage Golden Core? Your fate will be no different from your father’s.”

Yun Xuanzi shook his head mockingly. “I truly don’t understand why the sect warned me to be careful. Sending a late-stage cultivator against me? Is the Heavenly Void Sect so eager to deliver a head?”

“You will understand soon enough.”

Hum!

The air vibrated violently. A sharp, peerless blade intent screamed into existence.

A flash of crimson light, fast as a thunderclap.

Squelch!

Yun Xuanzi’s minions didn’t even have time to blink. In a split second, their heads and bodies parted ways, sliding apart in a gruesome display of precision.

Blood sprayed like fountains, instantly filling the hall with the thick, copper scent of slaughter.

Yun Xuanzi didn’t even frown. Killing a few Foundation Establishment ants was nothing to boast about; he could do the same.

Whoosh!

Another figure landed beside Han Lie. It was Han Feng.

“Feng’er! You made it too!” Li Susu wept, her body trembling with overwhelming relief at seeing both her sons.

Han Feng nodded to his mother, then turned to his brother. “Brother Lie, I handled the perimeter guards.”

“Good,” Han Lie said without looking back. “Watch over Father and Mother. I’m going to butcher this animal.”

“Be careful, Brother. He is at the Golden Core Perfection stage,” Han Feng warned. He knew his place; with his mid-stage cultivation, interfering would only be a liability.

“Perfection stage?” Han Lie scoffed, his chin lifted in disdain. “Just a slightly larger ant. One might think he was a Nascent Soul old monster from the way he barks.”

Han Lie’s arrogance was palpable. Years ago, as a mid-stage cultivator, he had slaughtered Perfection-stage enemies. To the current Han Lie, Yun Xuanzi was nothing special.

“Haha! Just an ant?” Yun Xuanzi laughed, the sound scraping against the walls. “I have lived many years, but I have never seen someone so eager to die!”

Any normal cultivator would find Han Lie’s confidence laughable. The gap between Late and Perfection was usually insurmountable.

“You simply lack imagination,” Han Lie said, extending an open palm. His tone was flat, stating a fact rather than a threat. “Five moves. Killing you will take only five moves. If you are still alive after the fifth…”

Yun Xuanzi sneered. “Then what?”

“Then I will acknowledge you as my father.”

“Hahaha! Then you can start calling me Da—”

Yun Xuanzi’s laughter cut off abruptly. He processed the words. Wait. He said he’d call me father? Not the other way around?

“A rat is still a rat, all teeth and no spine,” Yun Xuanzi roared, humiliated. “Today, this old man sends your entire family to hell!”

“Five moves,” Han Lie repeated coldly. “One move more, and I lose.”

BOOM!

Han Lie moved. He didn’t use a technique; he simply exploded forward, Crimson Oath appearing in his hand. The blade ignited with the scorching heat of Pure Yang spiritual power.

He slashed directly at Yun Xuanzi’s face.

“Hmph… What?”

Yun Xuanzi raised his axe to parry, intending to swat the fly aside. But as the blade approached, the pressure multiplied exponentially. It wasn’t just heat; it was the weight of a collapsing star.

He had no time to adjust. He could only brace the haft of his axe against his chest.

CLANG!

Sparks showered like fireworks. A terrifying kinetic force slammed into Yun Xuanzi, lifting him off his feet and blasting him through the roof of the City Lord’s Mansion.

Han Lie stomped on the ground, shattering the floorstones, and shot into the sky in pursuit.

Yun Xuanzi, proving his cultivation was not entirely for show, stabilized himself in mid-air. He felt the sting in his arms and the approaching threat of Han Lie. He didn’t hesitate.

“Mountain-Splitting Axe!”

He channeled his entire reservoir of spiritual power into his weapon.

The energy coalesced into a colossal, spectral axe, ten thousand feet long. It hung in the sky like a divine judgment, carrying the weight to crush mountains and sever rivers. With a roar, he brought it down toward Han Lie and the city below.

The sheer scale of the attack drew the eyes of the entire city. Millions of mortals and cultivators in Qingzhou looked up in horror.

They were used to regime changes, but this? This was a calamity.

“Soul Severing!”

Han Lie didn’t dodge. Crimson Oath hummed, thirsty for blood.

Under the gaze of the city, Han Lie slashed upward. A fire-red blade light, massive enough to rival the spectral axe, erupted from his sword.

BOOM!

The collision sent a shockwave rippling across the sky. The protective formations of the city groaned, and mortals fell to their knees in terror.

Then, the impossible happened.

The fire-red blade light sliced through the spectral axe like a hot knife through butter. The axe shattered into motes of light, while Han Lie’s attack continued upward, its momentum barely checked, forcing Yun Xuanzi to expend the last of his energy to deflect it.

Silence returned to the sky.

“That person… he looks familiar.”

“Familiar? That’s Han Lie! The winner of the tournament years ago!”

“Holy shit?! It’s him?”

“He’s already at the Late Golden Core stage? And he’s fighting a Perfection stage expert to a standstill?”

“Standstill? Are you blind? Han Lie just smashed that guy’s ultimate move!”

Shockwaves of disbelief rippled through the city. The older residents remembered Han Lie well—mostly because he had bankrupted every gambling house in the city during his last visit.

“That was the second move,” Han Lie stated, hovering in the air. He ignored the clamor below, his focus entirely on his prey.

“Haha, you have some skill,” Yun Xuanzi laughed, though it sounded strained. A bead of cold sweat traced a path down his forehead. “But you are still too green to kill me!”

Han Lie didn’t waste breath. He raised his hand high above his head.

“Gather.”

He began to pull at the ambient spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

“Hmph. You think a Late-stage cultivator can compete with me for the world’s energy?” Yun Xuanzi sneered.

Control over ambient Qi was a hallmark of higher cultivation. A Perfection stage cultivator should naturally dominate a Late stage one. Yun Xuanzi extended his hand, creating a vortex to steal the energy away.

“Mine!” Yun Xuanzi roared.

Han Lie’s eyes flashed. He cycled the Yin Yang Demonic Art.

VWOOM.

A terrifying suction force erupted from Han Lie. It was a black hole, a devouring maw that respected no logic. The river of spiritual energy Yun Xuanzi had summoned was ripped from his grasp instantly.

“?”

Yun Xuanzi froze. “How is this possible?!”

He pushed his cultivation to the limit, trying to wrestle control back. But the energy ignored him completely, flooding into Han Lie’s palm like water down a drain.

“What kind of demonic art is this?” Yun Xuanzi screamed, panic finally setting in. “You dare compete with me?”

“Come here,” Han Lie commanded.

The energy condensed in his palm, swirling into a dense, terrifying sphere.

Below, the crowd watched with their mouths open. A Late-stage cultivator out-muscling a Perfection-stage expert for control of nature itself? It was an unreasonable scene that defied all cultivation logic.

“My god… he completely overpowered him.”

“Am I dreaming?”

“You can’t dream up something this insane.”

Scalps went numb and blood boiled as the spectators witnessed history.

“You… you can’t be Golden Core Late stage!” Yun Xuanzi stammered, his mental state crumbling. He had lost in strength, in technique, and now in fundamental control.

Han Lie couldn’t be bothered to explain.

With a thought, he injected his Pure Yang spiritual power into the gathered energy. The sphere ignited, transforming into a miniature sun.

The temperature in Qingzhou City spiked. The air shimmered and warped. It felt as though the city had been plunged into a furnace.

“Go.”

Han Lie waved his hand casually.

The miniature sun, blazing with the fury of a star, crashed down toward Yun Xuanzi’s head.